How to save a life: Santa Fe gallery celebrates World Chimpanzee Day

Dan Mathews has always been an animal rights advocate.

As the former senior vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Mathews has a long history of battling to protect animal rights. As the director of events and special projects at the Save the Chimps sanctuary, he has dedicated himself to the long pursuit of saving chimps who have been experimented on in New Mexico.

How to save a life: Santa Fe gallery celebrates World Chimpanzee Day

Since the creation of the 150 acre Save the Chimps sanctuary, located in Fort Pierce, Florida, the facility has rescued more than 330 chimpanzees, with over 200 coming from a facility in Alamogordo.

“It’s a pretty despicable lab and a national disgrace to this country,” Mathews said.

When he met fellow animal advocate and Santa Fe gallery owner Jen Tough, the two knew they wanted to work together to raise awareness on the conditions chimpanzees have faced in New Mexico.

“I’ve always been a huge animal lover, so once I met Dan and learned about the organization, it was a natural click,” Tough said. “After I visited the facility in Florida I was blown away and knew right away I had to help. Before I met him, I had no idea about the bizarre history between chimps and New Mexico.”

Together, they decided to create the “Interspecies: Human and Chimp Art Collaborations,” a six week, 36 piece exhibit, focused on collaborative art work done between humans and chimps. The leading exhibit features paintings done by Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara. Phoenix and Mara would lay down base colors and select color palettes for the chimps to add their additions.

“We hope these paintings will raise much needed funds for Save the Chimps and deepen people’s appreciation of these intelligent apes,” Phoenix and Mara said in a joint statement. “Chimps are our closest relatives in the animal world. They share 98% of our DNA, so it’s no surprise that some chimps find it therapeutic to paint, much like some humans do.”

According to Mathews and Tough, roughly 20% of chimps enjoy painting and find it therapeutic. Painting is just one of the many activities offered at the Save the Chimps sanctuary to help rehabilitate chimps and allow them to live a more relaxed and normal lifestyle.

“Many of these chimps had never been outdoors or seen the sunlight,” Tough said. “Some of them seek out painting, which is very beneficial and enriching for them.”

Other exhibits include a collaboration between Andy Warhol photographer Karen Bystedt, who donated prints of Warhol for the chimps to paint on, similar to the way Warhol painted on top of photos of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe. Tough curated a Santa Fe-themed exhibit, where she chose New Mexican-themed desert toned colors and let the chimps paint to their hearts’ content. There will also be stylized portraits of chimpanzees by painters Leslie Folksman, David Heatwole and Parmiss Mass, and wildlife photographer Jeff Gale, according to a Save the Chimps news release.

Mathews believes seeing the chimps create will spark people to learn more.

“When people see chimps have made art, it opens a well of understanding for the intelligence of chimps,” Mathews said. “Humans are even closer to chimps than we think.”

Patrons can view a photo timeline that showcases New Mexico’s role as both the center of chimpanzee experiments and the heart of animal activism. Speakers from Animal Protection New Mexico will also provide updates on the 28 remaining chimpanzees being held at the Alamogordo Primate Facility. Videos of Save the Chimps will be shown so patrons can learn more about the organization they are donating to.

“There will be tons of art, both educational and visual,” Tough said.

Matthews said there are several protests and lawsuits between the National Institute of Health and animal activists in an effort to free the remaining chimps.

Tough hopes that people will open their hearts up to the chimpanzees and learn more about the history between New Mexico and primates.

“I really hope people come out,” Tough said. “If you can’t make opening day come by. It’s displayed until August 25. The exhibit is enlightening and inspiring and it’s incredible to see the connection between human and chimp. The creativity the chimps have shown is mind-blowing and chimps benefit from creating. That’s what makes this so interesting and fascinating.”

Photos and art will be sold at Tough’s gallery, where 100% of the proceeds will go towards the Save the Chimps sanctuary.